Paper-file



(N0 Model 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

- J. S. SHANNON,

I PAPER FILE. No. 274,832. Patented Mar. 27,1883.

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, i UNITED STATES PATENT JAMESS. SHANNON, OF HINSDALE, ILLINOIS.

PAPER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,832, dated March :27, 1883. Application filed July24,1882. (No model.)

To all/whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES S; SHANNON, of

Hinsdale, in the county of Du Page and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Files; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in receptacles for filing papers-such as letters, invoices, &c.and as a whole comprises two parts: first, a receptacle for receiving the papers, containing a binding device or holder; and, second, a box into which said receptacle, with its contents, may be inserted, and by which they are inclosed and protected in con- 'venient form to be filed away permanently upon shelves in such manner as to give ac cess to their contentswhenever occasion may require. The first receptacle, with its contained binder, will be herein denominated the file, and the second receptacle or box will be called the filing-case.

The objects of the invention are to provide a cheap and convenient permanent file and inclosing-case for papers, and such a construction in these articles as will permit them to be collapsed or folded in very small compass for transportation, and to be easily put together or brought into form for use.

To these ends the invention consists in the several features of construction hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims. In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of the hinged lids and back of the file. proper, including its contained binder. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section through the back B of Fig. 1, and vertical to said back. Fig. 3 is a section transverse to the back B of the file and filing-case when placed together and combined as contemplated. Fig. 4 is a section of the filingcase detached, taken at right angles to the section shown in Fig. 3, and exhibiting the arrangementof the flaps which form the closed end of said filing-case. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the filing-'case,illustrating the manner inwhich its flaps swing into position to form the closed end of said case and to hold the same in rectangular form. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the filing-case collapsed or laid out flat in compact form for transportation.

A A represent two rectangular lids of the file, formed of pasteboard'or similar material,

up at right angles to the back 0. Said back is longer than at least one of the sides 0, as shown in Fig. 1 so that when one of the lids A is laid out flat, or in the same plane with the back B,the edges 0 of the base part or back 0 of the binder-frame may be slid under the edges 1) of the permanently attached pieces B. The closing of the lids serves to hold the binder in place when in use; butfor the purpose of transportation the binderis removed from the filo, and the lids A folded down flat upon themselves by being bent in one of the hinges a.

The binder comprises the sheetmetal plate 0 G, hinge-wire D, tubes D, and transferwire D constructed and operating essentially as described in a former patent granted to me. It is sufficient to say of it here that the papers, properly punctured for the purpose, are strung upon the tubes D, the wire D serving to hold them on the tubes and to secure the latter in a position parallel with the back B or G by engagement with thecatch c, as betterillustrated in Fig. 3. Saidwire D? also serves as a transferring-wire by which papers may be removed from the tubes D, or placed thereon in a body from another receiving-file having puncturing or receiving tubes corresponding in distance'apart with the tubes D, so that the file here shown and provided with the paper holder or hinder may serve either as a receptacle for papers applied therein as they shall be received from time to time, or as they may be transferred thereto in a body from another file on which they are placed when currently received.

The filing-case is a rectangular pasteboard box, which, when completed, is open at one end, but closed at the other, being made of proper size to closely admit the file already described, with its contents, at its open end in the manner indicated in Fig. 3, wherein one of the lids A of the file is shown depending in the absence of papers, which in use will force said lids apart and against the bottom and top E of the filing-case.

In order to adapt the filing-case to be 001- lapsed for the purpose of transportation, and thereafter set up and secured in its rectangular box form with little trouble and skill, the sides E E of the ease arejoined to each other by hinges or flexible joints 0 e, which may be produced by cutting the pasteboard only partly through, but preferably by the application of strips of cambric or similar material, as is customary in jointing pasteboard articles. The closed end of the filing-case (shown in Fig. 4, which presents an interior view of said end) is made up ofthefourparts E E flexiblyjoined respectively to the sides E and E, so that by straightening the parts or flaps E E out into the same plane with the parts to which they are respectively joined the box may be bent down either to the right or to the leit, so as to bring the opposite sides, E E, into contact with each other on their inner faces, as is intended to be represented in the perspective Fig. 6. The flaps E are of width equal to half the depth of the box, and, when folded-one upward and the other downward to close the end of,the case-m eet or closely proximate each other on their free edges, as seen in Fig. 4) In order to give symmetry to the collapsed case shown in Fig. 6, the flaps E are made of equal width with E When the box is to be set up in form the flaps E are first thrown inward, and the flaps E are folded externally to them and secured in this position either by paste applied between the contiguous surfaces of the flaps E and E or by similar means, or preferably a by a thin sheet of paper, previously gummed,

stuck over the outer end, so as not only to secure the flaps E in the same plane, but also to conceal their joint'or meetin gedges. In practice v I am accustomed to furnish such a strip of paper with the cases, and the same also serves as a printed label, bearing directions for the setting up and use of the file and case. It is obvious that when the ends of the flap E and v E are folded inward and secured in the manner described they will serve to retain the box E in its rectangular shape, with one end open.

While I have stated that the file described is adapted to use for filing papers as they are received, it will generally be used exclusively with the filing-case to constitute a permanent receptacle for papers transferred thereto in a body from the current file already patented to me, and consisting of a tablet provided with vertical puncturing or receiving tubes and pi voted transfer-wires, the tubes of said current file being set at the same distance apart as the tubes D in this one, and therefore adapted to admit the ends of the transfer-wire D By means of said transfer-wire the papers may be lifted from the tubes of the tablet-file and transferred to the tubes of this file in a body preparatory to their permanent disposition in the file and case herein described. When thereafter there may be occasion to remove a paper for inspection the superposed papers are lifted off the tubes D upon the transfer-wire D and the desired paper removed, after which the body of papers is returned to the tubes.

In order to give proper rigidity to the back B, said back is preferably made of two thick-- nesses of pasteboard, and as a convenient means for securing the transverse metal lips B tovsaid back, tangs b may be pressed out from the parts B and inserted through the inner thickness of the back and clamped down upon the same, as shown in the sectional Fig. 2. The outer thickness of the back, subsequently applied, conceals the tan gs andgives a smooth outer surface.

. In packing the paper-filing device herein described for shipment the metal plate 0 C, with its attached parts, constitu tin gthe paperholder proper or binder, is removed from the cover A A B and is packed with similar parts of other files in any desired quantity, being obviously of such form as, after being wrapped up, to occupy a rectangular space or packing-case economically. The cover A AB and the filing-case E E, &c., are severally col lapsed or folded flat, and these'parts are packed in any desired quantity.

By making the packing-case ot'suitablesize to admit the filing-cases, when collapsed or flattened in the manner described, the same case may also admit a corresponding number of the file-covers and of the binders detached and wrapped up by themselves. They may be set up in form for use either bythe retail dealer or by the user.

I claim as my invention- 1. In combination with the receptacle comprising the back B and lids A, flexibly joined, as shown, a binder detachably joined to the back B, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with thebinder having the projecting edges 0 0, and with the back'B ofthe receptacle A A B, the plates B, secured to the back B, and arranged to admit the edges 00 of the binder beneath the edges of said plates B, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

3. The paper-file described, consisting essen-' tially of a receptacle composed of the folding lids A and back B, a paper-holding device within said receptacle, and an outer case, E, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

274332 I t a 4. The paper-file described, consisting of a receptacle composed of the flexiblyjoined parts A A B, a receptacle, E, flexibly joined at its angles a e, and provided with'a folding adapted to be conveniently set up for use, sub- [0 stantially as described.-

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' JAMES S. SHANNON.

Witnesses: 1

M. E. DAYTON, J EssE Cox, J r. 

